The ideal length of time for focused work
The ideal length of time for focused work
- by Dr. Andrew Huberman
How long should you try to focus? Research literature points to the importance of so-called ultradian cycles. You have probably heard of circadian cycles or circadian biology, circa, the day. Circadian is about 24 hour cycle. our brain and body operate within that day or within that each and every day, with 90 minute ultradian cycles. Any time you are going to sit down and try to focus, focused bout of physical exercise or skill learning or musical learning, or having a conversation, or therapy, or a class, how long should it be? Ideal duration is about 90 minutes. 90 minutes or less. Trying to push yourself to drop into 2 hours of focus or 3 hours of focus, while possible, is not really in line with what we know about the underlying biology. Everything from our sleep states or the different stages of sleep and our waking states is divided into these 90 minute cycles or so called ultradian cycles. Set a timer for 90 minutes. Acknowledge and accept the fact that under most conditions, unless you are really pressed for a deadline, the first 5 to 10 minutes of that 90 minutes are a transition time - a warm up for focus. Include it in the 90 minutes. Then, you drop into focused mental work or learning of some sort, it could be physical as well, motor skill learning, or running or lifting weights, etc. Occasionally our focus will flicker. We will jump out of focus. A big part of being able to focus is to go back to focusing. How can we conceptualize this? That arrowhead getting very, very broad - that you are focusing on many things - or that arrow shifts to a different location in the room. The key is to be able to shift it back and to narrow it once again. It is an active process. It requires a lot of metabolic energy. Your brain is the chief consumer of metabolic energy and the calories that you consume. It is called basal metabolic rate. Most of that is not related to movement or heartbeat or breathing, it is related to brain function. Your brain is a glutton with respect to caloric need. So, understand that at the end of the 90 minutes or even after 45 minutes, you might feel rather tired or exhausted. It is very important that after a bout of focus, you take at least 10 minutes and ideally as long as 30 minutes and go through deliberate defocus. Spend time on somewhat menial tasks or things that really don’t require a ton of your concentration. Things like not looking at your phone on the way to the bathroom, not looking at your phone in the bathroom, started to become a movement in the pop psychology and optimization world. Try and give yourself some time to deliberately decompress - to let your mental states idle - to not be focused on any one thing. That period of idling is essential to your ability to focus, much in the same way that rest between sets of resistance training or rest between exercise is vital to being able to focus and perform during the actual sets or during the actual bouts of running or cycling or other forms of exercise. Deliberate decompression is key. The incredible rich array of sensory information available on our phones and other devices make it very hard for us to decompress. Our ability to focus is not just related to what happens during the entry and movement through those focus bouts, but after those focus bouts. We really need to deliberately decompress. The ultimate decompress, the time in which we are not directing our thinking interaction is during sleep. That deep, long lasting duration of not controlling where our mind is at, is in fact, the ultimate form of restoration - even if we have very intense dreams. So take that period after each 90 minute or less focus bout. Remember that those focus bouts don’t have to be full 90 minutes. Lets say you do 45 minutes of intense work. After that, set it down and go do something for maybe 5, 10, maybe even 30 minutes that is functional for your day - just not walking around in circles or staring up the sky - although if you can do that, do that. Most people have other things to do. Do things that are rather automatic or reflexive for you. Try not to do any focused reading, try not to bring your vision into a tight location, such as your phone - and try to deliberately decompress. That will allow you to drop into intense bouts of focus again repeatedly and repeatedly throughout the day.